You usually get to see pics of the next year production line in late January around the time of the SIA show. You might not get to see specifications of these products till much later in the year, often very late spring or early summer. Boards are "released for sale" usually in late August or early September. As far as when they go on "sale," -- usually they don't. NS does not overproduce their product line and sells their popular boards out by mid winter (Proto being one of those). You might find an odd size ProtoX for sale, but this "sale" won't be for much (?10% off).

My suggestion is to buy what you want while you can get it this year, but don't wait long. Proto's sold out by mid-season last year.

Cheers mate thats a great help. By sale I meant general sale not discounted. No point waiting until next season for a 13/14 board if they aint released to Aug/Sept.. my season will be 3/4 done! I'll pick up the 12/13 Proto asap and have the agony of looking at it pick up dust until atleast march!

I just purchased an SL since I thought I would just be doing freeride, but later decided that I want to try some rails and jumps this season. I will probably be landing fakie a lot. How much of a disadvantage am I at on an SL vs a Proto?

No, you participated in that thread.
It is just that the NS customer support email was not very clear/potentially misleading. The SL is fundamentally directional, not twin. Not very directional (so you can get close to a twin riding experience), but directional nonetheless.